Craving Talon (30 page)

I slide into the couch under the TV. “Cami insisted on sending you a team. They arrived here about an hour ago and I’ve been briefing them since. We’re not doing this to scare you, we’re not doing this to make you angry, we’re doing this to keep you safe,” Rusty says behind Mills.
 

“Safe I can understand, but I certainly don’t need four, one would do,” I tell them, though my irritation with this situation is rising. If it had been anyone else sent to fill this role, they certainly wouldn’t be doing this.
 

“We have four, and we’ve had four brought in because we can utilize them to not only protect you, but increase security for the band. We will now have the staff we need to mind the buses, the venue, hotel rooms, and even help to provide shifts.”
 

I nod, still confused. “Who was it? The guy last night. Who was he?” I ask and everyone hesitates, long enough to piss me off. “Damn it, don’t, you held it from me last night and up until this minute I didn’t want to know, but whoever he was has you guys scared shitless that something is going to happen to me. So, who was it?”
 

I am met with some pretty long faces and they obviously don’t want to tell me who it was. “I can go ask Leroy, I’m sure he’ll tell me.” I stand up.
 

“No, Addison, sit down,” Talon says and he comes over to me. I sit and he crouches down in front of me. “Before we tell you, we need you to know that what happened will never ever happen again. We also know why it happened and while it doesn’t make it right, the proper steps are in place to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
 

“Who was it, Talon?” I whisper. “It was Eddie, wasn’t it?”
 

He pulls back from me. “How?”
 

“A hunch. So am I right?”
 

“Yes,” Mills says, “He came here in an attempt to finish what he’d started in Dallas. But in doing so he violated the terms of his bail by crossing state lines. He violated the terms of his plea deal by attempting to make contact with you. The Dallas prosecutor has dropped the plea deal and it is going to court. Seeking the maximum for assault, stalking and attempted rape.”
 

I look at him. “I thought they couldn’t prove… Oh god.”
 

“He was naked when I found him. His intention was for exactly what happened to happen. He wanted you to climb onto the bed so that he could trap you there. Talon and Kyle interrupted his plans. He figured by the time he was done, the deed would be done and he could go to jail satisfied.” Mills looks at me with pity and my blood boils.
 

“I do not need your pity, god damn it. I am a grown fucking woman.”
 

“Addison,” Kyle scolds.
 

“What, Kyle? I’m not a helpless child. At least last night I wasn’t drugged. I could have fought back. Don’t treat me like I’m a god damn child.” I stand up, because there are far too many men in my way. “I don’t need to be treated like a fucking egg that’s going to break if I’m handled too roughly. So until you can talk to me like I’m an adult, I will not have this conversation and I don’t appreciate decisions being made on my behalf without consulting me first. So you can take you’re posse and go to hell.”

I storm to the bedroom, slamming the door shut and locking it. I fall face first onto the bed and scream.
 

Am I being childish? Yeah, I probably am, but fuck them. Everything is being done for me and I have no say one way or another. I wasn’t given a goddamn choice last night about whether or not I wanted to see the asshole who’d put flowers everywhere. They put me to bed instead of letting me discuss what happened, why it happened or even the fact that someone was sending bodyguards. Kyle and Talon couldn’t be bothered to tell me and Kyle dodged my questions when he was in here.
 

There’s a knock at the door. I don’t respond.

“Come on, man, it’s time.”
 

“Where is she, Kyle?”
 

“She won’t answer the door, so I don’t know.”

“I don’t know if I can do this without her backstage.”
 

Kyle rubs his hand on my back and I slouch into him. As much as Addison comforts me, Kyle does the same. “You’ve done it for years without her. I think you can handle one night without her being there.”

“What about the song? Fuck, they’re gonna want the song and I can’t do it without her, either one of them. We really fucked up.”
 

“That’s just it. I don’t think that we did, Talon. I think that she’s overwhelmed by everything that’s happened to her since she’s gotten on this bus. I mean, think about it, us is just the starting point, then the whole singing thing. That really was never her life’s dream, Talon, and you, me, the guys, we all pulled her into doing it, forced her to do it. Then she gets drugged and attacked, and then her attacker comes back. That asshole has tainted her entire celebrity experience. Imagine how you’d feel if shit like that happened to you.”
 

Fuck, he has a point, as always. “I can’t say how I’d handle it, the odds of having something like this happen to me are slim, I’m a guy. Women, especially gorgeous women such as Addison, are usually the targets of crimes like this. I wish I knew better why she’s so upset. I wish she’d talk to us.”
 

“I’m upset,” Kyle and I spin around to see Addison approaching. “Because nobody told me anything, no one discussed anything with me. You all just took it upon yourselves to decide what was best for me. A hoard of bodyguards? I feel like I’m being smothered and suffocated by everything with no way to express myself.” She takes a deep breath. “I don’t think you understand how all of this makes me feel inside and I don’t know how to tell you so that you can fully understand or without speaking about things we’ve already talked about. Like the fact that I am a very independent person, so to go from independent, to no independence with the two of you, to having my life controlled for me, puts me into a position that I want to fight back. It makes me feel defensive and I don’t like it. So you need to find a way to understand the fact that I have a say in what goes on in my life. Do we need more bodyguards? Yes, we do. If Mills thinks that we need four, then we need four more bodyguards. But everything has happened to me and no one else, so I should have a full say in what happens next.” She folds her arms and leans against the wall by the TV. She’s defensive and I don’t blame her. “The ball got dropped, I got caught in the crosshairs, and I don’t like it, but I will deal with it better when you’re upfront and honest with me about what’s happened.”
 

“Baby girl, we didn’t skirt anything.”
 

“Kyle, you did, in the bedroom. You were given a chance to tell me what was going on and you dodged me. Prior to that, instead of putting me to bed, you could have included me; you could have woken me up, like I asked. Instead you went about your business and then fell asleep at my feet. We lay in bed for nearly an hour, not saying much of anything, you could have told me then. But that’s not the point. The conversation could have happened like it did, without the audience of four new bodyguards who no doubt think I’m a big whiny baby right now.”
 

I scowl at her. “Does it ever occur to you that we were protecting you?”
 

“From what? Because I think I handled the whole Eddie situation in Dallas pretty well and I had doctors and nurses telling me what happened to me, without the sugar coating. I broke down and lost it last night because I didn’t know, at the time, whether last night was the work of a madman or an insane fan. I didn’t know if I was the target of an attack, or if whoever was out to hurt one or both of you. I lost it because in the midst of all of this, I’m losing myself.” She starts crying and my heart breaks. I take a step toward her, intent on comforting her. She puts her hand up, stopping me and I feel like my heart is being ripped from my chest.
 

The breath rushes from my lungs. “Angel, I…”
 

“Talon, please. I need a break.”
 

“What? No,” I argue.
 

“Talon, listen to me. I am overwhelmed. I am splintering and shattering into thousands of pieces because I don’t know what to do. I was sent here to do a job, to handle your public relations, to deal with the headlines, to handle your social media, to make sure that everything stayed intact. I am failing at my job because I am too wrapped up in the two of you. I haven’t even checked my email today. I haven’t even seen what’s been going on in the world because I’m so caught up in this bus. Because I can’t keep my hands off of you two. It’s not a bad thing, believe me, but it seems like everything else is consuming the real reason why I’m here. What I’m being paid to do. I can’t not be around you and Kyle. It killed me to deny you access to the room, but I needed to have time to myself. To handle my emotions surrounding what happened last night, what happened earlier, and how I can handle this without losing my cool again. I don’t like feeling like this. I don’t like having everything so out of my control, it scares me. It scares me to the point that I want to run to the airport because it’s safer back in my condo in LA. But I can’t run. I can’t because I’ve made a commitment to Bold, to Vicious, and to the two of you. I fucking love the two of you so god damn much it scares the hell out of me. So talk to me, be honest with me, communicate things with me, not to me. Communication and honesty is what our relationship is built on, and that was shattered today. This conversation is not over yet, I will not deny you your chance to argue or agree with me, but we are out of time. We need to get inside for the show.”

Neither Kyle nor I say anything to her, allowing her her chance to breathe. She walks past us and down the steps off the bus. No doubt right into Victoria.
 

I look at Kyle. The fear in his eyes matches my own. “We can’t lose her,” he says to me.
 

“We won’t. We will fix this, we will make this right. I promise you.” I wrap Kyle up in a hug and he hugs me back. It’s not the same as hugging Addison, but the comfort is none the less there.